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Committee for Children Hires New COO and CTO

John Hults and Mike Harrington join Committee for Children’s executive team

SEATTLE – Committee for Children (CFC), the Seattle-based, global leader in evidence-based social-emotional learning education, announced the expansion of its executive management team with the appointments of John Hults as chief operating officer and Mike Harrington as chief technology officer.

John Hults will manage Committee for Children’s strategic planning from a business and operations standpoint. Hults brings a strong finance and operations background to the team, with experience as a leader of strategic business partnerships and chief financial officer at Global Scholar. Before joining Committee for Children, he founded two successful digital imaging companies, Azul Images and Blue Jean Images, which operated in international markets. His previous positions include director of financial analysis and process at McCaw Cellular/ATT Wireless and vice president of financial planning and analysis at Getty Images.

“I am incredibly energized to help lead the organization to its next phase of innovation tied with operational excellence,” John Hults said. “I look forward to continuing the organization’s momentum and identifying additional opportunities for CFC to grow and innovate for the benefit of children, educators, and families everywhere.”

After initially bringing his technology, managerial, and business expertise to Committee for Children’s New Mission Ventures Task Force as an advisor, Mike Harrington has moved into the chief technology officer role. Harrington’s experience spans several successful tech companies including Microsoft, where he worked as a software developer and manager, and Google, where he worked following the acquisition of his photo-editing company, Picnik. Additionally, he co-founded gaming company Valve and Catnip Labs. A leader in technology strategy, Harrington brings a strong engineering, leadership, and entrepreneurial background to the organization.

“I am very pleased to take on this new role with Committee for Children,” Mike Harrington said. “The organization’s focus on delivering research-based social and emotional learning tools via new technologies is growing rapidly, and as CTO, I look forward to supporting these exciting advances.”

“We’re thrilled to add talented and experienced executives such as John and Mike to our leadership team,” Committee for Children Executive Director Joan Cole Duffell said. “Both of these individuals are world-class leaders with deep expertise and proven track records in exactly the areas that will be critical to accelerating our efforts to advance Committee for Children’s mission: to foster the safety and well-being of children thorough social-emotional learning and development.”

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About CFC

Founded in 1978, Committee for Children is a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering the safety and well-being of children through social-emotional learning and development. CFC is the world’s largest provider of research-based educational programs that promote social-emotional skills and prevent bullying and sexual abuse. Today the organization’s curricula reach schools in more than 70 countries, including 30% of all U.S. elementary schools. Each year, more than 10.6 million children benefit from these programs. Learn more at cfchildren.org